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I created the Gubernatorial primary poll, which is absolutely non-scientific, really to just give those who Twitter and people who happen on my blog and Facebook a way to make an extremely early chance to vote for their favorite candidate. I’m surprised at all of the buzz it has generated.

I don’t think anyone can blame candidates for drumming up support. This is what any competent candidate will do when it comes time for fundraising and the real primaries. This is more of a practice at campaigning rather than me trying to rival the Gallup. The poll is far far from anything I’d label scientific. I assumed people would understand this was just an online poll and just have fun with it. Some took it for the lighthearted affair it was. Others took it much more seriously than I thought anyone would. In any case, I don’t see how supporters having a little fun early (really early) in the campaign hurts anyone. If people didn’t realize the poll was not scientific (people from places other than Maine can vote, you can vote Dem even if your Repub, etc.) let’s make it clear now; this poll is in no way what so ever an effective measure of support for a particular candidate in a “one-vote one voter” sense.

All that being said the poll did shows the potential of an organized netroots campaign. I saw candidates contacting supporters via Twitter and heard of emails being sent asking people to vote. The poll showed a taste of how well candidates online networks function. How quickly they mustered support from the online community in this poll will translate to real results when it comes time for the real primaries, fundraising, get out the vote efforts, etc. In that sense this poll was no hoax and highlighted an important part of campaigning. Of course some figured how to vote more than once too, so I suppose you all can debate that in the comments section.

Friday will be the last day of the poll. Final results will be Monday. Just have fun everyone. We have so many issues that we spend time and energy on, including the gubernatorial campaigns. Let’s all take a minute to enjoy this. The real tests will be coming soon enough. I’d like to thank all the candidates that showed such enthusiasm, their supporters, and everyone who voted.

4 Responses

How exactly could people figure out how to vote more than one time?
I can understand if someone were to use their computer, their girlfriends computer, etc. to vote.
However, when you say that some people “figured how to vote more than once too” do you refer to this type of situation or something else?